The 2021 NFL season may barely be in the books, but Dave Richard is already getting a jump on his 2022 preparation by highlighting at least one key statistic to know for each NFL team that had a major bearing on their 2021 performance and could mean a great deal for their 2022 outlook. In this space, Dave dives into the Las Vegas Raiders.
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Las Vegas Raiders stats to know
Kenyan Drake saw 10-plus touches in Weeks 7 and 9 and put up at least 15 PPR in each. But he totaled 23 touches in the four games that followed before breaking his ankle and missed the rest of the year. I'm not sure what happened, but the splits from when Drake was a part of the Raiders offense and when he fell out of favor there tell us something interesting about Josh Jacobs.
- Jacobs with Drake (six games): 12.2 carries, 3.0 receptions, 13.5 PPR points per game (four with 14-to-16 PPR points)
- Jacobs without Drake (nine games): 16.0 carries, 4.0 receptions, 14.4 PPR points per game (four with 17-to-23 PPR points)
Jacobs had nearly five more touches per game without Drake and couldn't even muster a full PPR point more on average. Sure, his upside was good but his downside was still ugly, especially in losses (15.5 PPR points per game in eight wins, 12.4 in seven losses).
Having Josh McDaniels as his new playcaller is a double-edged sword: the offense should be sharper, but McDaniels has rarely, if ever, leaned on one running back as a three-down guy. It's hard to be overly excited for Jacobs as anything more than a solid No. 2 running back.
